Yes, but also I think the MTA has done a really bad job of understanding why people might not want to pay contactless and making sure the needs of those riders are addressed A lot of OMNY's problems stem from MTA mistakenly thinking contactless is just as good as a single, unified regional farecard - ThreadSky

thelirrtoday.bsky.social • 6 days ago

Yes, but also I think the MTA has done a really bad job of understanding why people might not want to pay contactless and making sure the needs of those riders are addressed

A lot of OMNY's problems stem from MTA mistakenly thinking contactless is just as good as a single, unified regional farecard

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qdpb.bsky.social•6 days ago

There isn’t a card like this, at least not in the NY metro region. Contactless is functionally equivalent except
For very niche cases.

thelirrtoday.bsky.social•6 days ago

OMNY was supposed be that card! https://www.thelirrtoday.com/2023/12/omny-regional-adoption.html

qdpb.bsky.social•6 days ago

But it isn’t! And it never will be: the experience of other countries shows that future is contactless. London charges 7 non-refundable pounds for an Oyster card now to discourage people from using it.

thelirrtoday.bsky.social•6 days ago

There's no reason we can't have a proper regional farecard.

London is a great example how contactless is not a true replacement for farecards—there are a lot of fare products and discounts that are available only on Oyster, not contactless.

2avesag.as•6 days ago

FWIW, London has jacked the price of an Oyster card up to £7 in an effort to get people to stop using them.

thelirrtoday.bsky.social•6 days ago

Sure, but if you have a railcard you make that back very quickly with the 1/3rd discount on off-peak fares that isn't available on contactless.

Contactless is great for adult tourists. But I don't think it's unreasonable for people to carry around a farecard for the city they live in.

alonlevy.bsky.social•6 days ago

London is not the future of anything. Paris has Navigo, we have paper tickets or payment by app (with proof of payment and fare integration, of course)...

khyber.bsky.social•6 days ago

Most of the world uses NFC and/or QR codes. Navigo sucks and POP on rapid transit is a German peculiarity.

lexande.bsky.social•6 days ago

Everything about the Navigo implementation is pretty janky, it makes a lot more sense for other systems to follow London.

alonlevy.bsky.social•6 days ago

London's zonal system is jankier. (The actual solution is POP with Verkehrsverbünde.)

mdasilva.bsky.social•6 days ago

Contactless CAN be as good IF they offered the full spectrum of fare products.

Unfortunately they did the weekly fare capping thing then raised the “Mission Accomplished” banner.

thelirrtoday.bsky.social•6 days ago

Is there a single fare system out there that offers full parity between contactless and farecards for all fare types? I can't think of any examples in the US.

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